What is the typical home defense distance you shoot at the range? I’ve heard 7 to 10 yards. What I did was pace off the maximum distance in my house about 15 paces and that’s the max distance I will shoot at the range. But I’ve also pattern my shotgun for shorter and longer distances to see what the pattern would look like. Much more than 15 paces and the bad guy would be outside and then I could have a whole new set of problems.

Did exactly the same thing Marine...measured the longest distance in the hallway and in every room and use that as a basis for patterning loads from the shotgun as well as my handguns, including presentations from cover and firing without the sights off hip ( instinctive / point shooting ). I even practice with my weak hand...ya never know!

SHOOTER13 wrote:Did exactly the same thing Marine...measured the longest distance in the hallway and in every room and use that as a basis for patterning loads from the shotgun as well as my handguns, including presentations from cover and firing without the sights off hip ( instinctive / point shooting ). I even practice with my weak hand...ya never know!

Three to seven yards in my house, still going between #4 and # 00. It won't be a hard choice when needed. The times however, seem to be getting dicy around my neck of the "woods". When the free stuff goes away, I figure the "gimmie's" will be just around the corner..... sorry, if I got off topic, but we're talking HD loads and distance........ and the times!

" Take five".... expect three, get two....... "up the hill.... down the hill.... Through the hill ! !" SEMPER FI

My house gun is a 1917 M12 12 ga short barrel and is loaded with 2 loads of 7.5's on top of 00 buck . In house the 7.5 is safer as it will not generally penetrate drywall with enough force to kill someone on the other side but at across the room distance will make a great big hole in my target. I also have my 70 series 1911 loaded with 8 and two 8 round mags handy just in case . If attacked by Zombies or Mutants (Democrats ) in force I have a pre-Ban Colt and a claymore bag of 30rnd mags as well as any number of scope sighted bolt guns and no less than 500 rounds of ammo for each. If needed I also have the skill sets to make the claymores to go in the bag given the materials (Hardware store/ Walmart stuff ) to work with. In house distance in my house is not more than 15 ft max.

You folks that are walking off distances and such are on the right track and the use of the shotgun is smart. Handguns and rifles can easily cause collateral damage outside the home. I practice and defend with #4 because there are more shot in them and the odds of a stopping an intruder on he first shot are much better.

My home defense shotgun is a Benelli M4 Super 90 and it's by my bed with 4 rounds in the tube. My .45 is in my nightstand but my intention will be to grab the shotgun first with the .45 as a backup.

I practice with them both often, building better muscle memory each time. If you truly want to be able to defend your home, worry less about the distance and spend more time becoming intimately familiar with your home defense weapons.